1963-1964 Mobsters Marshall Caifano (aka Johnny Marshall) and Charles Delmonico were arrested in Las Vegas on a federal warrant in July 1963 for conspiracy to commit extortion and engaging in interstate transportation in the aid…

1949 “Eight the hard way!” “It’s the Big Dick!” “Next shooter, please!” “Seven, you lose!” When translated into the French language, these common phrases shouted by stickmen during craps lose their pizazz and bite, their…

1960 “Las Vegas seemed to be both fascinated and frightened by the little computing machine,” reported Ray Duncan in the Independent Star-News (Dec. 5, 1960). The referenced device, via a dial on its front, advised…

1946 Which famous hotel-casino debuted in Las Vegas, Nevada the day after Christmas in this year? Hint: Jimmy Durante was the grand opening star; while on stage he destroyed a $1,600 piano (a $20,000 value…

1972 Twenty-six years after the gangland assassination of mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and his debut of the Flamingo in Las Vegas, a trap door was discovered in one of the hotel-casino’s offices when the carpet…

1949 The article, “Las Vegas Gamblers Arming in Control Battle,” ran on the front page of a Los Angeles newspaper in the third week of December, to the chagrin of Nevada gambling regulators, casino owners,…

1970-1972 Meyer Lansky was the puppeteer behind the scenes of the world’s gambling stage from the 1930s to the 1960s, controlling and manipulating the characters with aplomb. The show’s plot was him capitalizing on his…

1951-1952 Gambling boomed in Las Vegas, Nevada immediately following Senator Estes Kefauver and his committee’s nationwide investigation into organized crime. The 27 hearings the group conducted in 14 United States cities in 1950 and 1951…

1945-1955 In the late 1940s, three bookies — or commissioners, as they preferred to be called — operated on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood under the name, Golden News Service. Hy Goldbaum, George Capri and…

1955 When presumed-to-be-wealthy mobster, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, was slain at age 41, the estate he left was worth $35,609 (about $314,550 today). Before his murder, Siegel co-financed and oversaw completion of the Flamingo hotel-casino in…